Gerald "Jerry" St. Hilaire was elected Mayor of Gardner on November 4, 2003, with eighty-three percent of the popular vote. Born in Gardner on December 27, 1946 to Edmond and Rita St. Hilaire, he is the youngest of two children and the only one to venture into the public service arena.
Jerry attended the former West Street and Prospect Elementary Schools, Waterford Jr. High School, and Gardner High School. Majoring in Management, he attended Boston College and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree. After earning his undergraduate degree, Jerry entered Suffolk University Law School and graduated with a Juris Doctor Degree.
Jerry has worn many professional hats since entering the workforce. Upon graduation from law school, he became partner in a law firm practicing every form of law from criminal to municipal law. He served the City of Gardner as Mayor and Chairman of the School Committee for two terms in the late seventies through the early eighties. Among his many accomplishments during his first term as Mayor, he created the City's first Community Development and Planning Department, which secured numerous grants for economic development, infrastructure, housing, recreation, and commercial revitalization, including a Heritage State Park designation and funding. He also established, with the Mayors of Leominster and Fitchburg, the Montachusett Area Regional Transit Authority (MART) to provide commuter rail and bus service to the
region.
After serving as Mayor, Jerry held the position of Assistant Secretary for Municipal Development with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Communities and Development where he developed and administered municipal grant and technical assistance programs. He implemented several economic development programs and created a state "Main Street" program for revitalizing downtown centers as well as a management capacity incentive grant program to benefit smaller Massachusetts communities.
For nearly ten years, Jerry held the position of Deputy Registrar and Chief Legal Counsel for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. He managed the law department effectively handling a broad range of legal issues affecting both long-range policy and daily operations and administration. He drafted various regulations and legislative acts. He successfully defended or resolved a multitude of issues and was able to control many sensitive public relations matters. Jerry served as agency liaison to the offices of the Attorney General, District Attorneys, Secretary of the Commonwealth, U.S. Department of Transportation, and Federal Highway Administration where he actively participated on the national committee to draft comprehensive model legislation to adopt the Federal Commercial Driver License Act.
He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam. He worked as a "Sky Marshall" in a program developed by the U.S. Treasury Department. Jerry served on the Gardner Conservation Commission, as a Trustee for Mt. Wachusett Community College, and taught criminal law for the Criminal Justice Training Council. He was elected to a Councillor-at-Large position on the Gardner City Council in 1992. He served in the capacity of Council President for the two years prior to becoming the nineteenth Mayor of Gardner and only the second individual in the City's history to be elected as Mayor for an additional non-consecutive term.
Jerry's married to Sheila Matusiewicz and has one daughter, Andrea Bevin.
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